The Naked Man
by Mayor Olive
Summary: "Surprise," Taichi told him, nodding smugly. "The element of surprise is what you need.". Daiken. One-shot.


**The Naked Man**

The amount of time Ken spent working on schoolwork sometimes bothers Daisuke. He doesn't mind watching the other boy sitting at the computer, poring over lines of code or equations, but Daisuke has always been a fidgety boy. Try as he might to sit still and behave himself, he just gets bored. It took Daisuke a while to realize why Ken wanted him there while he was studying, considering what a distraction Daisuke could be. One day, Ken snapped at Daisuke for knocking over the pile of books on his desk; out of frustration, Daisuke asked Ken to explain why on earth he had to be there. When he noticed the hurt in Ken's eyes, however, he realized: Ken came to all of Daisuke's soccer games to support him, and this was how he wanted Daisuke to support him. Daisuke stopped complaining about it after that day.

And though he would never admit it to Ken's face, he sometimes wishes their relationship was more…physical. Daisuke wouldn't consider himself to be obsessed with sex, but he is eighteen. He understands that he's bound to think about it and, well, want it. Daisuke knows that Ken must think about it sometimes, but he's much better at controlling himself- though Daisuke is incredibly thankful for the times that the two have explored each other.

Once, he made the mistake of asking Taichi for advice. Daisuke always considered Taichi to be sort of a mentor, but as soon as Taichi realized what Daisuke had come to him to talk about, his expression, originally bemused at Daisuke's apparent embarrassment, transformed into an obnoxiously smug grin, which Daisuke knew was supposed to convey an air of sagacity (it didn't).

"Surprise, Daisuke," Taichi told him, nodding wisely. "The element of surprise is what you need."

Daisuke left quickly, wanting to avoid hearing any more pieces of pompous advice.

Still, a few weeks after his visit to Taichi, he starts to wonder if the older boy might have a point. Ken is a creature of habit, preferring to stick to the same routine each day.

This makes it hard for Daisuke to figure out the least intrusive way to surprise his boyfriend- he knows that going too far outside of Ken's normal routine would just make him uncomfortable. He briefly toys with the idea of cutting a hole in the bottom of a box and giving said box as a present to Ken, but he knows that Ken would be far too suspicious to open the box, having been on the receiving end of a few of Taichi's pranks involving boxes that have contained some sort of spring-loaded toy.

Then, an idea comes to Daisuke. He has a hard time believing that he hadn't thought about it before, but he realizes that it's his best option; now, he simply has to wait for the right time to put his plan into action.

Before too long, the gods decide to smile on Daisuke. His parents book a weekend vacation, planning to leave on Friday morning, and Jun, who actually moved out a few years ago, decides that she doesn't want to hang around her brother for a whole weekend while he "plays video games and gets fat". Daisuke immediately invites Ken over that Friday night.

A short time before Ken is due to come over, Daisuke gets ready. He starts with his socks- well, he hardly wears then around the house, anyway. Moving around the apartment, he wants to make sure that his parents and sister aren't secretly hiding behind doors, ready to laugh at him- and off go his shorts (boxers and a shirt, that's not so strange; that's just what he sleeps in). Daisuke realizes that he's shivering slightly, but the apartment isn't that cold. Then, the shirt comes off- momentarily, Daisuke considers giving up on his plan, worrying that Ken might not react in the way he planned; Ken's supposed to be here in a few minutes, but that's enough time to put everything back on…But Daisuke steels himself. Pacing around the main room, he feels nervous but determined. And then he takes the final step- the boxers come off. He shivers.

Because being completely naked leaves you with very little to fidget with, Daisuke nervously folds his boxers and other discarded garments and sets them on the couch.

Then, a knock at the door.

Daisuke swallows.

"It's open," he calls, before the horrendous thought occurs that maybe it's not Ken at the door.

Daisuke places his hands on his hips and pulls his shoulders back, channeling Superman's traditional stance; he simultaneously hopes that acting confident will mask his shivering and wishes that he had a cape to billow gracefully behind him.

Then, the door opens- Daisuke is so glad that it's Ken- and sunlight streams in. Ken blinks to adjust his eyes to the relative darkness of the apartment as he closes the door. Then, he notices Daisuke. Daisuke grins, waiting to see how Ken reacts.

Daisuke feels like Ken has been staring at him blankly for eternity. Daisuke silently curses Taichi and his advice and his cocky grin.

Suddenly, Ken laughs. He takes off his shoes before advancing towards Daisuke.

xxx

I got the idea for this story while watching an episode of How I Met Your Mother of the same name. It took me a while before I got motivated enough to write it, and even longer to find the right style to use. I'm still not sure if I'm happy with the way some of this came out; I wanted it to be short and simple but I'm in such a horrible habit of being verbose in my writing that it's hard to write any other way. See, I'm doing it right now.


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